MovieChat Forums > Quite Ugly One Morning (2004) Discussion > Brilliant book, so this should be good!!

Brilliant book, so this should be good!!


This is a fantastic book, I was introduced to the writing of Brookmyre about 7 months ago. I have since got through 3 of the books ( i am not a big reader).
I must admit they are great.
Nesbitt will be perfect for the role of Parlabane.

I cannot wait

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Yeah, the book is brill (I've read all of Chris Brookmyre's books), and I'm holding high hopes for the TV adaptation.

Not so sure bout James Nesbitt as Parlabane though. He's very likable, and good at playing characters that are basically himself, but whether he can handle the role as it should be done is something else entirely. And I don't think he's quite lean and muscular enough for the lithe Parlabane, but we shall see.

Still, as a big Brookmyre fan, I'm salivating in anticipation, despite my opinions on the casting choice for Jack.

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Hi
I was introduced to the first book nearly five years ago and was hooked from the first line. Went and bought all the others almost immediately. Ever since then, I've waited impatiently for each subsequent book and demolished them within a day or two. I'm normally a slow reader, but with these books I actually have to restrain myself if I want them to last more than a few hours.
So I was eager to find out who'd play Parlabane. Who would be good enough to play such an obnoxious person, (and be honest - he'd get on your tits after a while if you met him socially) and still be likeable while remaining true to the character? Parlabane is smug, arrogant and full of himself. He also has a slightly feral side to his nature that few people could pull off. Douglas Henshall, perhaps. Dougray Scott, definitely. But James Nesbitt - the Yellow Pages whore? Christ, no.
Nesbitt seems wholly committed to playing nice, "cuddly" characters. I honestly can't see him doing justice to this role at all. I am dreading this series. It's one of those cases, where - having read a really great book, you are terrified that the screen version will just kill it.
Incidentally - on the subject of killing off great characters - how many other people are outraged at Keanu *beep* Reeves playing the part of John Constantine and making him a New Yorker? How dare he? I hate Hollywood.
So... Quite ugly one morning isn't in the same league as most Hollywood travesties, but it can still royally *beep* up a great story. I really hope it doesn't. But we'll find out soon enough, I suppose.
Graham

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Having read, re-read, and then forced my friends to read Quite Ugly and the rest of Brookmyre's backlog, I was distraught by last nights "adaptation"

Nesbitt was probably the only likeable thing about the whole thing.

How something that was "thrillingly unpleasant", "a post-thatcherite nightmare", "very violent, very funny", "A wicked satire", "Sharp and funny" became THAT piece of %$£& on TV last night is beyond me.

I pray to the heavens that they ditch the idea to bring Country of the Blind (which I consider to be his best novel) to ITV.

Perhaps Channel 4 could make something of it...

But the screenwriter needs someone to pay him a visit. With a crowbar.

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Hiya
I posted this on another site a while back, but I got onto such a rant at the time that I just went on and on. Anyway, I felt that it would (space permitting) be better to just "cut and paste" it into here, rather than rewrite what I had put down in that other place.

Someone in John Hannah's team had a bit of a twisted idea. They took the title of a popular and well-loved book, some of the plot details contained within, a bunch of moronic shadows of the characters involved and made up their own damn story.
I honestly thought that the worst thing I would be able to say about the TV adaptation was the main casting choice. That being a chubby Irishman being chosen to portray a lithe, smug shortarse from Paisley who could hang from his fingertips while climbing. The nationality of the man buggered up a huge chunk of Parlabane's character right away, which is an infuriating start to the entire concept. This, however, doesn't even begin to cover the deficiences of the story.
The TV version of Parlabane is the very epitome of the kind of hack that he despises in the books. His writing is grandiose and seems to exist purely to explain what all reasonably intelligent viewers have already worked out for themselves. There is practically nothing in the way of genuine investigation, he stumbles around in seach of clues and enemies and has apparently run away from LA at the first hint of danger, whereas in the book he had to endure a direct attempt on his life, first.
Sara Slaughter somehow manages to be an ex-girlfriend of Parlabane's. This is a very convenient coincidence that helps to advance the plot without the need for a lot of the seemingly unnecessary events featured in the book. This also means that there isn't a hint of the developing romance that featured in the book and created the genuine sexual tension between the two characters, however.
Dalziel/Dunlop is young, naive, unprofessional, petulant and... incredibly... straight. A far cry from the capable, cool lesbian from the book. Conveniently this makes her the perfect - albeit very lukewarm - surrogate for Parlabane's advances, since Sara isn't available. She is, of course, resistant to these advances, but still strips down to her bra to show Parlabane that she's wearing a wire in an attempt to entrap him into saying something incriminating. And then unplugs said wire and - incredibly - forgets to button herself back up again. This undermines her credibility with McGregor and when he questions her emotional involvement she pitches a tantrum to demonstrate how wrong he is. Not even her first tantrum, either.
Stephen Lime isn't even remotely close to being the manipulative and controlling character from the book. He was the man who never personally got his hands dirty and got transformed into an incompetent who walks the corridors of his geriatric unit with a murder weapon in his hands for any stray passerby to see.
Then there's Darren Mortlake... now, admittedly he was never quite the sharpest character in the book, but he certainly wasn't a COMPLETE moron. He repeatedly returns to the scene of his original crime, half-heartedly buries a dog under less than an inch of dirt and a garden gnome and - like his boss - carries his murder weapon openly as he lumbers around Parlabane's stair.
The deviations from book to TV might be forgivable if the TV version was any good. Sadly, it wasn't. There were a couple of really good moments - like Parlabane's discovery of Ponsonby's body and his subsequent encounter with Jenny - but they just weren't enough. And the casting of both DS McGregor and Mrs Kinross was inspired. The chosen meeting place for Darren and Stephen - Calton Hill - was amusing for reasons of its own, but was probably not intentional.
The worst sin of all, however, was the omission of two key scenes. The incredibly dark and funny opening scene with McGregor's initial appraisal of Ponsonby's body was gone and when Parlabane got there, it was nowhere near as visceral as in the book. The jobby was there, but the pish and boak were completely gone. And the showdown with Parlabane, Sara, Stephen and the grotesquely mutilated Darren were completely excised so that two of the unnecessary extra characters could be justified in an alternative showdown and so that Mrs Kinros could get her own direct revenge on Darren in a twist conclusion. Admittedly, this twist was dark and funny, but also stupid and nowhere near as good as the original ending.
To conclude this rant - because that's exactly what it is; I won't kid myself - I've got to say that a witty, original and dark satire has been transformed into a complete farce that's only worth watching for the comedy value. Not intentional comedy, though. Just the occasional laughs provoked by sheer outrage and disbelief. I have yet to recover from Parlabane's "Hiya" message on Stephen's computer.
Graham

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It was utter rubbish, an insult to the book...

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i loved the book, but this i didnt love

it drifts too far from the book in too many ways, but i guess they cant show a lot of the gruesome stuff from Brookkmyre on TV :P

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Hello all, just to let you know...
THIS IS A MOVIE FORUM! FOR A MOVIE BOOK FORUM VISIT www.iwatchmovieswhilereadingtheoriginalbookandtheadaptivescenarioatthesametime.com
Disscussions here are to reflect your thoughts of the movie itself, not compare it to anything. besides i have read the book, and i like the movie more. The movie isn't that stiff. :D Any complaints?

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The point in the book where Darren enters Parlabane's flat to kill Parlabane and Sarah is one of the funniest things I have even read.

How that scene didn't make the TV adaptation is completely beyond me.

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Love the book, Brookmyre is a sharp, satirical writer. QUOM is actually a fairly dry book, actionwise, being more concerned with politics and skewering the Thatcherite politics of the time. You can understand them making changes to bring it to the screen

TWhat they made, however, is a watered down horror trading on Nesbitt's nice guy image and previous work.

It should really be called 'Quite Cold Feet One Morning'.

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